Pakistan, China ink Karachi-Peshawar railway line agreement

LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) and the National Railway Administration (NRA) of China on Tuesday signed an agreement pertaining to the ML-1 [Main Line-1] project at the PR Headquarters here.

PR Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Aftab Akbar and NRA Deputy Administrator An Lusheng signed the agreement pertaining to doubling of the entire ML-1 track from Karachi to Peshawar, up-gradation of the speed of passenger trains, freight trains, computer-based signalling, control system and others.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that the project was the backbone of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

“All matters related to ML-1 have been settled, whereas a complete report on its design and infrastructure will be submitted by December 25.”

The minister said that ML-2 and ML-3 were also important for CPEC, adding that Chinese companies should give a lesser amount of interest rate in order to complete PR uplift projects.

He also told media representatives that Prime Minister Imran Khan will be inaugurating four new trains on November 23.